Promise
by Cheeseburger of Doom
Summary: [SatoshiDaisuke] Six years later, Satoshi finally hears what he's always wanted to hear. Except the story is about Daisuke.


A/N: I don't own DNAngel! Are you surprised? Ah...I don't know why I'm writing this. I really don't. Er...Shounen-ai warning? That's all I write. I thoroughly enjoyed the DNAngel anime (know nothing about the manga) but I had one problem. Daisuke ended up with Riku instead of Satoshi. So...I have to fix it now. I know many of you have already fixed it, but I felt the need to do so also. So -- this takes place um...six years after the anime. (If I'm right and he was fourteen. If he was fifteen...oops.) I don't know if the title fits but it was the best I could come up with.

****

Promise

Turning twenty felt no different than turning fourteen, but really, everything was different. There would be no Dark to possess him this year, no adventures, no thieving, no Harada twins -- no Riku. 

They'd broken up after a year. A year is a long time for a teenager -- but in the end, they realized that they hadn't discovered true love just yet.

Since then, Daisuke had been longing to find out just what love was really like. He wanted to know how it felt to be with someone so special it almost hurt.

He and Riku had almost been like that, but young love doesn't often last, because when you're young -- you want to try new things.

Riku had broken it off. She'd said, as nicely as she could, "There's nothing between us anymore."

And she'd been absolutely right. Daisuke had known it for longer than she had, but had been in denial. He'd learned something along the way -- something very important. Something that he'd wanted rather badly to deny.

Daisuke didn't like girls. It was kind of embarrassing. He didn't really feel normal anymore; he hadn't felt normal for about five years. He wasn't against male/male relationships, but when he'd started noticing his attraction to other guys, he felt very strange about it. He'd never really questioned it; he'd always assumed he was straight. He'd never had an interest in anyone until Risa, and then Riku -- but he'd realized that he'd only been looking for girls because he didn't realize that he'd wanted to look for boys.

~~~~~

University was going fairly well. Daisuke was taking Fine Arts, and though he knew it would be a rather tough path, he wanted to take it anyway. It seemed fitting, somehow. Painting reminded him of Dark -- who he really missed. They'd become good friends, even though in the beginning they'd hated each other. It had hurt to say goodbye to him.

"Niwa."

The voice shocked Daisuke out of his reverie, and he blinked large eyes at the speaker.

"H...Hiwatari-kun?!"

He hadn't seen Satoshi since the end of high school. After the Dark/Krad goings-on, they'd become rather good friends, and had spent a considerable amount of time together -- especially after Daisuke's breakup with Riku -- but then they'd gone their separate ways. They'd lost touch after a few letters; they were both busy with their lives, after all.

Satoshi smiled. He was taller, and had lost a little of his boyish features, and he was not wearing glasses -- but he was still the same Satoshi that Daisuke remembered. It was good to see him again. Very good, in fact.

"What are you doing here?" Daisuke asked.

"I thought it was about time I paid you a visit, since I've known where you are all this time," Satoshi replied. "You told me what university you were going to, after all."

"You probably shouldn't have bothered," Daisuke said. Satoshi frowned at that. Daisuke had the strangest feeling that he was disappointed. "I mean, coming all this way, just to see me? Weren't you studying abroad?"

"I've been doing this and that." Satoshi shrugged. "I wanted to come see you. It's been too long. I should have come sooner, but...I didn't." 

"Well, it's good to see you now!" Daisuke looked at his watch. "Oh no! My next class is starting soon. Ah -- never mind. I'll skip it. I have an important visitor."

Daisuke could have sworn that Satoshi blushed then, but Satoshi didn't strike him as the blushing type.

"Let's go out for lunch."

~~~~~

"Ne, Hiwatari-kun."

"Call me Satoshi already," Satoshi said. He was focusing on his soup. For some reason, it seemed to be very interesting. Daisuke was a little suspicious; Satoshi had been avoiding eye contact with him for a while.

"Satoshi...Have you been seeing anyone?"

That caused Satoshi's head to snap up. His soup was no longer interesting, apparently. "What?"

"Sorry, that was a rude question...I just wondered," Daisuke said. He felt a little blush creeping up on him. That was odd, why would he be blushing? Satoshi had once been his best friend -- but maybe he just felt uncomfortable since it had been a few years since they'd talked. That was it.

"No."

"What?"

"No, I'm not." He was looking at the soup again. "There was only one person I ever really wanted to be with, but h--they weren't interested."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

An awkward silence followed. Daisuke regretted bringing it up, but he'd really been curious, for some reason.

Well, actually, he knew the reason. He'd had a crush on Satoshi for the last year they'd spent in high school -- after discovering the truth about himself. 

Apparently, the crush hadn't worn off yet.

"What about you, Niwa?"

"Daisuke."

"Daisuke. What about you?"

"No one."

Now Daisuke was staring into his own soup. Yes, it was indeed fascinating.

"You remember, when you told me that I would find someone who would say that they were happy to be with me?" Satoshi asked, suddenly.

"I remember." How could he forget something like that? It was one of the key points in his discoveries about himself. He'd wanted to be the one to say that...

"Was that something you made up to make me feel better, or do you think it could really come true?" Satoshi asked.

"It will come true!" Daisuke exclaimed. "It really will!"

"Why did you stop writing to me?" Satoshi asked.

Daisuke wondered why he was jumping from subject to subject so quickly. It seemed to be leading up to something.

"Well, I thought I wrote you a letter, and then I didn't get one from you for a while, and I thought that you might not want to keep in touch anymore," Daisuke admitted. "I realized a little while later that I was the one who hadn't written...but then I figured since you didn't write, that..." He realized that he was going around in circles. He sounded like a teenager afraid of rejection.

He felt like a teenager afraid of rejection, come to think of it.

"I thought the same thing." Satoshi finally took a sip of the soup, instead of just looking at it. Then he finally made eye contact. "There was something I always wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how you would take it."

"What?"

"I'm..." 

Daisuke recognized the look in Satoshi's eye. He understood.

"So am I, so you don't have to worry about my reaction."

Satoshi blinked a few times. "You're...?"

"Gay."

"I see. I didn't really expect that of you. People would...talk, about me." Satoshi shrugged. "There were a few rumors about us."

"I know. I heard them." Daisuke was really blushing now. "I just never wanted to mention it."

"Neither did I, believe me."

They both laughed a little, at that.

"Although..." Daisuke took a deep breath. "I wouldn't have minded, if..."

Satoshi's eyes widened a little. He put down his spoon. It was pointless to keep holding it, since he'd only used it once. "Maybe I shouldn't have stopped writing."

"Maybe that was my fault."

"I don't think we're going to get anywhere that way," Satoshi said. 

"Probably not."

"Niwa...Daisuke. Back then, when Krad tried to kill you, how many times...I wanted to stop him, because I didn't want you to get hurt. When you saved me -- when you told me that someday someone would care --" Satoshi made a motion with his hands, as if to push glasses up -- but he was not wearing any. "Damn contacts."

"Please finish your sentence," Daisuke prompted.

"I wanted it to be you."

"So did I."

Satoshi blinked. 

"So did I," Daisuke repeated, seeing Satoshi's surprise. A smile broke out on both of their faces.

"I'm glad I came to visit," Satoshi said.

"So am I."

~~~~~

"So...what now?" Daisuke asked, after they'd left the restaurant.

"I don't know. I think I could stay in town for a while," Satoshi said, "Depending."

Daisuke grinned. "I would like it if you stayed for a while." Maybe even forever, but he wasn't ready to say that aloud just yet. They'd been apart for a few years, after all -- maybe the feelings wouldn't be the same...

And maybe they would. They would just have to see.

"We can talk about old times, and all that," Satoshi said. "Or maybe we can find something more interesting to do."

Did Satoshi just wink?

That made Daisuke blush yet again. 

They walked together for a while, with no particular destination in mind. They were silent for a while, but this time it was not awkward. It was filled with promise.

"Oh, Hiwatari-kun?"

"Hm?"

"I'm glad you're here with me."

"So am I."

~~~~~


End file.
